Nature's Ways: Sprouts of hope

By Mary Richmond

Friday

Aug 3, 2018 at 3:01 AM

While walking in the woods the other day I came across a small, young tree. This in itself was not unusual, of course. The woods are full of trees, both small and large. This particular tree, however, was growing sideways.

It had grown straight up for at least two seasons but then it made a turn. A 45-degree angle turn. It wasn’t damaged, bent or broken by the elements. It had been blocked by a bigger tree and the only way it could survive was to grow sideways to find the sun it needed to prosper. At some point it will probably aim upward again.

You’ve probably seen other trees that have taken funny turns as they grew. They slant this way or that, sometimes even offering a funky seat for you to sit on.

On this same walk I came upon a tree that was uprooted about 20 years ago, probably by Hurricane Bob. It had fallen into a shallow pond, its branches akimbo. I’ve watched this tree over the years and it has made an amazing transformation.

In the first year after the fall the leaves died and many of the branches remained bare and eventually withered. Some broke off in other storms, others provided housing for insects, lichen and fungi before slowly giving in to gravity.

This was not the end of the story, though. Far from it. While the old branches died off, tiny sprouts grew along the now top of tree. All along the bark that used to be the side of the tree, much of it now covered with mosses, new life appeared. Little leaves and sinewy branches grew. By the end of their first season some had grown a foot or more.

While the original roots of the old tree shriveled up and died in what was now an exposed and dried out dirt ball, new roots were forming in the rotting bark and pulpy old wood. These were the roots of different kinds of trees. There was a white pine, a sassafras and an oak, all growing from the bark of a red maple.

All these new trees were growing amidst the new branches of the maple, all reaching for the sun, putting forth new leaves, new hope.

There are now dozens of new trees growing atop the old tree. Many have thrown out roots that go down and around the remaining trunk, while others have broken through the old wood to the earth below.

What were once meant to be branches are now the trunks of 20- and 30-foot-tall maples. The other trees are still going strong as well. I marvel every time I walk past this tree that became its own mini forest.

Life has a way of persisting, of resisting death. When a barrier is put in its way, it seeks an alternate route. Survival is not a game for the weak or fearful and yet sometimes hiding and waiting are appropriate responses.

If plants could talk I imagine they would have truly fascinating tales to tell. They can break through rocks and concrete. They can entangle and choke, travel and mutate to adapt to new conditions. They can also flourish and when in bloom, seem to celebrate being alive.

Anyone that has tried to eradicate certain plants knows how tenacious and tough they can be.

The human spirit is like that, hard to break. Even when the final light leaves the eyes of someone we love, everything we knew and treasured about them remains in our hearts. Even when the world feels broken and bereft, there is a tiny sprout somewhere aiming to break through a boulder.

That is hope in action. All it needs is a little water, some time in the sun and lots of love.